Communist Party Members and the Village Air": Political Distrust and the Structure of Surveillance in the 1945-1960s

Communist Party Members and the Village Air": Political Distrust and the Structure of Surveillance in the 1945-1960s

From the 1945-1960s, especially during the period of postwar confusion and the eve of rapid economic growth, "politics" was something "distant and frightening" for many local communities in Japan. In particular, there was a deep-seated wariness of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP), not only in terms of state power, but also within local communities.

Rumors that a local youth had joined the Communist Party or was spreading leaflets quickly spread throughout the village, surrounding him with rumors that he had changed and was being watched closely by the authorities. The villagers do not listen to his claims of "justice" and "equality," but rather fear that the state power will take his place. Rather than what he has to say, they instinctively avoid him, fearing what will happen if the police act, or what will happen if the village is burned to the ground.

This is evidence that the prewar public order and security laws, memories of the "red-hunt" by the Special Higher Police, and the structure of snitching and mutual surveillance during the war survived after the war was over. In the 1950s, when the Cold War structure covered the world and Japan was part of the U.S. anti-communist policy, sympathizing with communism was a dangerous act that would have branded one as an "unpatriotic" person.

During the "Red Purge" of 1950, many Communist Party officials and sympathizers were forced out of their workplaces, and the image of "Communism = violence and chaos" took root through newspapers and radio waves. This national structure also affected local communities. In small villages, Communist Party members are treated as if they were "plague gods. No matter how much they talk about their ideals, the community's self-preservation instincts, such as "We don't want any trouble," and "We can't live under the thumb of the authorities," block their efforts.

In rural society at that time, the prejudice that "anyone involved in politics is no better than a yakuza" was deeply rooted, and "collusive democracy" prevailed in which elections were decided based on "who the influential people of the village vote for. This is why "young people who are involved in politics as individuals with their own convictions" are isolated from the rest of the society.

This episode truly illustrates the reality that while postwar democracy was guaranteed on paper, the spirit of democracy was not accepted in local communities, i.e., the conflict between "democracy on the surface" and "peer pressure on the backside. The "justice" of the youth was not accepted by society, but rather they were excluded. In the atmosphere of the Showa era, when state power and the community built a strange complicity, his figure is a mirror that reflects the distortions of the times.